


The Old Country

by ren_makoto



Series: Freedom Will it Capture, and Lordship in a Wilderness of its Own [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29728947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ren_makoto/pseuds/ren_makoto
Summary: Harry and Severus are reunited after centuries and there is much to say. Severus wants answers. Harry wants to take down dragons. Long ago, Hermione wanted to rule the world. As for Draco Malfoy? He only wants to be free. We move between the past and the present and learn how Harry and Severus were separated. And what becomes of them now that they've found each other?
Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Series: Freedom Will it Capture, and Lordship in a Wilderness of its Own [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2124378
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is Part 2 of the Freedom Will it Capture series. This will make a lot more sense if you start there. Thanks for swinging by and hope you enjoy.

_ The Past, Camp _

The wind blew cold outside, but Severus' tent was warm, as warm as if a fire blazed in a fireplace beside him. He knew a trick or two, after all.

"I have a plan. I know what to do. With Hermione, I mean," said Potter in a rush as he came into the tent suddenly.

Severus placed his book to the side and inclined his head. He could hear the army running drills outside in the overcrowded clearing. They had been on the march for over a year, camping when exhaustion became too much to bear, making the best they could out of the space they could find to sleep and train. The towns near where they stayed were not always welcoming to a force this large, and so they would have to move again. The men grumbled from time to time, but what could Severus do? The castle simply wasn't done yet. Truthfully, Severus himself was impatient to be away from rough living. He was used to having a roof over his head, a place to call home. Moving constantly from place to place with this growing army was wearisome. Their devotion to Potter was marvelous, true, but if their numbers kept increasing, he feared they would become unruly. They needed stability, a real place to rest in between battles. He missed the manor house and knew that Potter did as well.

And he'd thought Potter would work with the army until late in the night, putting them through their paces. But apparently his student had some new, wild theory to share with him. The worst thing about Potter's theories was how often he was able to make them reality.

"Do with her?" asked Severus. "I thought you planned on defeating her and chasing her army back to the Borderlands. What else is all this for?" he asked and waved a hand towards the tent flap, indicating the army.

Potter looked younger than his fourteen years as he shook his head. His cheeks were pink from the cold. "I…I can't kill her."

Severus regarded his student steadily. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Because. Before she changed, she was my friend. I just  _ can't _ ."

"She's done terrible things, Potter. I was her teacher and even I have a hard time forgiving her for her crimes."

"Yes, but she wasn't always like this. I remember her from before. Don't you?"

"Sometimes," Severus whispered. He drummed his fingers on his thigh. "Then tell me this plan of yours."

Potter's face brightened. "I found a door," he said and then hurried to assure Severus when his teacher looked displeased, saying, "No, Master, just listen. I promise this is a good thing. Remember how you said that there is a door to anywhere, anyplace, and that you can get there if you know how to find that door?"

"I do," Severus said cautiously. He'd been teaching the boy the theory, but they hadn't gotten down to using it practically yet. It was fairly advanced. As far as Severus knew, he was the only man in the world who could take advantage of the phenomenon at all. Even with all his gifts, he imagined that Potter might find it difficult.

The boy's hands moved excitedly as he talked. "Well, it's true. There are doors to everywhere, Master.  _ Everywhere. _ There are even doors to places that I read about. Places people told me about."

One of Severus' black brows lifted. "In your studies? Other parts of the world?"

Potter shook his head. "No. Um. Like places in storybooks. Fairy tales."

Severus took a deep breath. "What I taught you…it doesn't apply to doors that aren't real, to places that are just in your imagination."

"But it does, Master. Your theory is right. It's so perfect, it just needs expanding. And Hermione…she told me a long time ago that she wanted a house on a lake. And the house has a painted green door and roses outside it and…I thought I could take her there. Away. To where she can't hurt anyone anymore."

Severus didn't speak for a moment. He studied Potter's wide green eyes, how his hands rubbed together nervously. "Boy," he said after some thought, "are you saying that you want to imprison Hermione on a world that doesn't exist?"

Potter looked at his feet and his brown hair—too long now—fell over his eyes. "'Imprison' sounds terrible. I just thought…she needs some time. Some time to remember who she used to be. Before the war. And this place is perfect."

And that made Severus glower at Potter. "Is perfect?" he repeated slowly. "Is?"

Potter squirmed under his gaze. "I built it," he said.

And he should have known that Potter would jump in without thinking it through. More than that, he should have gotten used to the fact that Potter didn't know what he should and shouldn't be able to do. He should have gotten used to the fact that Potter disregarded everything he tried to teach him about limits and going too far. They had yet to find something that was beyond him, after all. Of course he would take Severus' theory and go traipsing off to worlds that didn't exist. He didn't know what was impossible, so he simply did it anyway. Foolishly.

"Where?" asked Severus. He was preparing to dress Potter down; he just needed all the facts before he got started.

"Here," Potter said and tapped his forehead. "It's all right here. It's a beautiful place, Master. I named it Manasseh."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Snape are reunited at last...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for stopping by and reading!

_ Present Day, Area 42 _

This Wilderness was small in comparison to the one where Potter had been trapped, but it was no less real and dangerous. It was as if someone had sawed a piece off of the real thing and then dropped it down in the middle of the desert far away. The trees were as rotten and twisted as the ones in his mind. He half expected to see Draco Malfoy marching through them with his monstrous army. There were the familiar, dark, burbling swamps and stringy, tangled vines. He could hear the growls and caws of the night creatures, the scratching noises of the scavengers in the underbrush. He knew this place so well that he could almost feel the eyes of the larger, unnatural predators lurking in the shadows. They would strike if they thought they had a chance, but Potter wasn't afraid of them.

He tilted his face into the dank air that whistled through the swamp. He could sense Severus better here, feel him all around. Or was it that the sensation was growing, that something was moving closer? Someone? More and more he kept thinking of Severus. It was like an itch deep in the center of his brain that he couldn't scratch; like he had forgotten something important.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tight. Behind his eyelids, the real Wilderness was there, waiting for him. He could see it as if looking through a window. And he could feel Malfoy there, too, ready to keep fighting for as long as they both kept not dying. It was disorienting to stand in this perfect slice of the hell he had fashioned while the brunt of it all was still crammed into his mind. The internal felt more tangible, while the world before his eyes was all confusion.

"You gave the guards quite a scare."

Potter didn't turn, though he felt his heart speed. He sighed heavily and readied himself for this confrontation. He'd known it would happen—had wanted it, actually. He only wished that he were at his best, that he looked how he knew he really looked. In the Wilderness—the real one—he was a warrior, not some skinny, boyish invalid who had merely been kept alive here, rotting in some machine. He wanted Severus to be impressed with him, to be in awe of him. He resigned himself to being weak and thin.

"They tried to hurt me," he said.

Severus looked around as he entered the dome, stepping cautiously. "Well, they won't be trying that again now, will they? You certainly know how to make friends."

Potter sneered at his words. "I had a good teacher."

"One you never heeded," Severus said darkly.

Potter sighed again. "Did you really just come to say 'I told you so'?" he asked and turned at last to face Severus. He gasped. No matter how he may have wanted it, he wasn't prepared to see Severus again. The sight of his old teacher made his heart ache and his throat dry. His eyes dropped suddenly to Severus' stomach as fear struck him. Part of him knew it was foolish to feel such fear now: he knew Severus was fine, had seen it himself more than enough.

But his mind felt half right, barely awake. The first unfragmented image to come to him was one long past, of Severus bleeding and fading on the edge of a clearing, illuminated by torchlight and fire. While that image was clear to him, everything else around him seemed like the memory of a ghost. He didn't feel whole, exactly. His unmarked arms told him he wasn't. And the remedy to his ailments felt far away, just beyond the reach of his fingertips.

Severus smirked a little, though Potter couldn't say why. He placed a hand on his stomach. "It's fine," he explained. "I don't even have a scratch."

Potter's shoulders sagged in relief. He lifted his eyes to study Severus' face, reassuring himself that Severus was really here and not some phantom from the dreams he used to have.

Severus looked the same as when he'd last seen him, except for how short he now kept his hair. The only real difference of note was that his clothing was strange, and that he looked a little pale, a little sick. He was still so tall and handsome and, well, yes, stern, and disapproving, and impossible to tolerate for very long. He hadn't changed; he had simply become more like himself. Potter was jealous then, for just a moment. He would never be the boy he had been ever again, even if he currently looked like him.

"What do you want, Master?" he asked.

Severus smirked again at the old, familiar title and answered, "I came to find you." He took a step closer, but his whole posture was weary. Potter could feel that it was all mixed up with anger somehow, too. Severus was angry with him and he didn't know why. He knew it was connected to the itch in his mind, to why he had woken in that underground place, desperate to find his teacher. But all the details of it were still hidden to him.

Worse, these new worries were all tangled up with the feelings that had plagued him in his youth. At his core, he was still just an eager student trying to earn a word of praise from Severus. That part of him was struggling to the surface even now, trying to understand what he had done wrong so he could fix it. He forced the feeling down. He wasn't a child anymore.

"I'm glad, I think," Potter said after a long pause. "Yes. I'm glad you're here. I…I think I was looking for you. I couldn't find you. They didn't know where you were. You were always so hard to find. Where were you?"

"I was…unavailable."

Potter shook his head. Severus' secrets were always bigger than the both of them. That hadn't changed any more than the man himself. "You've been here before," he said after a moment. "I can feel you all around. What were you doing here?"

Severus looked into the distance for a moment, like staring into the past.

"I came to get something," Severus answered at last, focusing on Potter where he stood.

"What?" Potter asked.

"Nothing. Don't worry about that," said Severus.

* * *

At first, Severus was surprised at himself for not answering truthfully. Then he slowly began to understand his reluctance to start a fight. When he had realized that Potter was awake, that he was no longer unconscious in the Tank, he had come to him ready to shout and rail, to make him see how selfish he was. He hadn't expected to find Potter confused and lost. Potter seemed beaten already, as if the Wilderness had done a fine job at humbling him—as much as Potter could ever be humbled. It seemed a cruel thing to Severus to reprimand a boy who had already learned his lesson in the most terrible of ways. He imagined that Potter would choose a very different path indeed were he given a chance to do it all over again. How could he punish a boy who had been punished so thoroughly already?

The boy obviously still thought, somehow, that he was supposed to worry about Severus' safety. He'd looked at Severus' stomach as if seeing through the layers of his clothing, searching for an old wound that had never really been. For all Severus knew, Potter had been. Perhaps the Wilderness had changed him. Who could say what he could do now?

There was something about his posture that was loose and easy, as if gravity were one of many options and he was just humoring it for the time being. It seemed to Severus as if Potter would just fly away at any moment.

And Potter wasn't safe here. After all, if he had somehow gotten free of the Wilderness, how long before Draco Malfoy followed him out using the same route? He feared for Potter.

"Why don't you come with me?" he said. "We have to get you back to the facility. We'll get you checked out by a doctor, make sure you're okay."

Potter shook his head slowly. "I can't leave. I want to understand what the Wilderness is doing here. It shouldn't be here. It should all be here," he said and tapped his forehead with a thin finger. "I need to bring it back to where it belongs. Somehow."

"We can talk about that later."

"Do you know why it's here?" Potter demanded. "You do know, don't you? And I feel like I should remember, but I can't. Everything is hazy, like mountains through a fog. Why is the Wilderness here?"

Severus made a helpless plea with his hand. "It's a long story. I'll tell you all about it at the facility. We'll go, sit down. We'll talk."

Potter stared at his hands with a perplexed expression on his lean face. "Talk. Yes. I feel strange. I think I left most of myself on the other side."

"That's…well, okay. That's bad. But…you're just disoriented. You're  _ confused _ . Let's go back to the facility. They can help you." Severus took another step closer. He moved like a man approaching a dangerous animal would. "They're going to want to talk to you. They have questions. We all have questions."

"Why?" Potter asked.

"Well. You've been asleep for a long time."

Potter's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't asleep. I don't sleep anymore."

Severus took a deep breath. He was only a few feet away from Potter now. "I know. I know you weren't asleep, Harry."

Potter's eyes flared green fire just briefly. Severus took another step closer and Potter's expression shifted to one of curiosity. His arm snaked out and he grabbed Severus' face in a strong grip. His fingers were stained with blood. The other hand was fierce on his shoulder, holding him still. Severus gasped.

Potter was…more powerful than he had ever been. The touch was like electricity, like lightning. He had become something else in the Wilderness, but Severus couldn't say what it was. The boy was brimming with power.

Severus' hands came up to pull Potter's away, but something in Potter's eyes made him lower them, made him relax and just wait this out. Potter turned his face from side to side with more force than necessary.

"You are just as I recall," Potter said. He stepped even closer until they were sharing breath. Severus could smell chemicals on Potter's skin, something sharp and strange. He could smell Hermione mixed in with all of it.

"Don't sound so surprised," Severus said quietly. "You did this to me."

Potter ignored his words, but kept studying him with intense, unblinking scrutiny. He lifted his hand from Severus' shoulder to caress Severus' face. "So handsome. Do you remember the night before the battle?"

Severus' breath hitched in his throat. "Potter, now is not the time. We can talk about that later." But Potter didn't seem to hear him. Severus saw it coming, didn't know what to do, didn't know if he wanted to stop it. Then his best intentions didn't matter as Potter leaned in to brush his lips slowly over Severus'. Severus froze, couldn't think of what to do with the warm press of Potter's slightly chapped lips, or the sensations they sent straight down to his belly and then lower, a growing heat in his groin. Potter licked over his lower lip and traced the tip of his tongue across the seam, searching for a way in, to taste the inside of Severus' mouth. And Severus could feel himself giving in, wanting to open his mouth and let him.

Then there was a low, vicious growl from behind them. Potter sighed and released Severus from his grip. He turned to face the thing.

"Someone always interrupts us, don't they?"

Severus' eyes widened at the thing looming over them. He got a vague impression of big, and teeth, and scales, and claws, but the creature never formed into a complete picture. Severus was trapped between the past and the present, choking on memories. Potter didn't seem afraid at all.

"Hello," he said to the thing. His feet lifted off the ground. "Master," he tossed over his shoulder, "you should stay back."

"Potter!" He rushed forward and hit some kind of invisible wall. "Potter!"

"Shh," Potter said. "This is nothing. This is nothing at all."

Then the thing lunged and Potter's body seemed to vibrate, to glow. Severus was aware of screaming out his fear, roaring it into the night air. He reached out a hand to Potter but he couldn't reach him, couldn't reach him, and it was all so familiar, all too familiar.

He remembered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I just opened the door, invited it in."

_ The Past, Snape Castle _

General Severus Snape stormed through the halls of Snape Castle. When he came to the large quarters where his former pupil slept, studied, and planned war, he didn't bother knocking. The door was locked—an understatement to be sure—but that didn't mean much to him. Even a door locked by Harry Potter didn't mean much to him.

Potter looked up from his maps when the heavy door smacked hard against the new stone. He watched silently as Severus entered the room like a thunderstorm, all fury and darkness. His black robes flared out behind him like ink in water. Over his heart was the crest of the army he served—a heart pierced by a key, floating between the gates of a stylized Snape Castle—Potter's own symbol.

There was one embroidered bright on Potter's own tunic and he covered it with his arms as he crossed them over his chest, waiting. Potter didn't appear surprised by Severus' anger. "I went through all that trouble with the door so I wouldn't be disturbed," he said.

"We'll call it a lesson learned, then. Now you know that it'll take more than the best you can do to keep  _ me _ out. I still know tricks you'll never know, boy."

"Ah. You're angry with me," said Potter. It gave Severus pause. He sounded much older than his years. He was sixteen now, hardly the mere child Severus had first met. Still, he couldn't help it: whenever he looked at Potter, he saw only a frail, big-eyed boy of six crying for the mother who had left him on a stranger's doorstep.

Sometimes he regretted marching him into the manor house instead of following his instinct to send him away. He regretted feeding him and giving him clean clothing to wear. He regretted  _ keeping _ him, like some kind of dangerous pet that he could tame.

"I'm different," the boy had said that day, soaking wet and miserable. And it was, to this day, the biggest understatement Severus had ever heard. Potter was still surprising him, even now.

And certainly they had been in countless battles together, had patched up each other's wounds enough times. He should have come to terms with the fact that Potter was no longer a child, but it was proving difficult. He wasn't ready to let go of the boy he had been, especially since the man he was becoming was something of a handful.

"How astute of you to notice," Severus said, snapping himself out of his memories. He made a slashing gesture with his hand and the door slammed shut twice as hard as it had opened. He could hear the wood splintering, but didn't care. So the damn castle was new, it needed to be broken in.

"What have I done to upset you?" Potter said slyly. "I'll try to set it right."

Severus shook his head with a sour expression. "Oh, how charming. For starters, when were you going to tell me about the prison?"

"So Ron ratted on me?" Potter said. He gave an elegant, long-suffering sigh.

"He didn't have to," Severus said with barely restrained calm, "I can read him like a book. Ron isn't the problem, you're the problem."

Potter laughed. "You're being ridiculous, Master."

"No, you are. Think for a minute, boy. Think! What makes you think you have the means to contain someone like Draco Malfoy? He's defeated us at every turn. His forces are superior to ours. He is superior to us—and to you—in every way. You don't have the power to control him, to lock him up and keep him as a prisoner."

Potter's youthful face crumpled, then hardened. "It worked with Hermione Granger."

Severus clenched his fists. Only Potter could make him lose his temper like this. "Hermione was not as powerful as Malfoy," he said through his teeth.

"She was powerful enough."

"That's even more reason to abandon this plan. You're weaker than you were then, Potter."

"I'm not—!"

"You  _ are _ ," Severus hissed. He'd been forcing himself not to say this for over two years, but now it could no longer be kept quiet. "I've  _ seen _ you barely able to summon even a light to read by! I've seen you almost faint on the battlefield! And I've worked damn hard to keep anyone else from noticing, but enough is enough."

Potter went still and quiet. He looked down, away, anywhere but up at Severus' judging black eyes. "You don't understand," he mumbled.

"I think I understand too well. How much of your power is being used to keep Hermione in Manasseh?" Severus whispered. His tone had gentled out, all the anger from before dissipated. He crossed the room to stand before Potter and—awkwardly, slowly—placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder. Potter stared at it for long seconds with his head bowed. Perhaps he, too, was surprised that Severus was touching him. It was a rare thing indeed unless one of them was dragging the other out of harm's way. But there was no danger here, just Severus and Potter and the weight Potter was carrying on his shoulders.

Finally, Potter said, "It's not Manasseh. It's…it's… that. I'm…tired. I'm so tired."

"Dammit, boy," Severus said and pulled Potter into his arms. Severus held him while he shook; he whispered meaningless platitudes he was certain Potter didn't hear. Holding him was even rarer for Severus than touching his shoulder, and Severus wondered if it felt as new and strange to Potter as it did for him. It didn't feel wrong, exactly, just different.

And Potter felt small and strong all at once in his arms, and Severus didn't understand how that was possible. He felt a little breathless holding him and he imagined—or thought he imagined—the feel of Potter's lips moving slowly against his chest, hot through the fabric.

It was a long time before Potter pulled away and turned his back on Severus. "Potter?" Severus asked, breaking the silence. He watched the rigid line of Potter's back and feared the worst. He was right to, as Potter spoke, saying, "I can't let them down. That army— those men crammed into every room of this castle of yours—they follow me. They are here for  _ me _ and I can't fail them. I will do whatever it takes to stop Malfoy. I've…I've been working. I already have it."

Severus blinked at him. "You…built it already?"

Potter turned to him. He nodded, then shook his head. "Yes. No. I didn't need to build it. It was already there. I just opened the door, invited it in."

"Opened the door? Potter, what are you saying?"

Potter's brow furrowed as he tried to explain. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "You taught me that there is a door to anywhere, anyplace, and that you can get there—"

"Potter, don't do this—"

"—if you know how to find that door," he continued, speaking over Severus' pleas. "I believed you. I built Manasseh, Master, but Malfoy's prison I  _ found _ . There was a door—a great, massive door— and it was locked, but I got through. I opened it. And now it's all here," he said and tapped his forehead. "I call it 'the Wilderness.' It's…it's a terrible place, Master. It's the hell Malfoy deserves."

"So you are to be his judge, jury, and executioner?" Severus growled. "Has nothing I taught you made it through your thick skull? There are things that you should not do with all your gifts and this is one of them."

Potter's frustration was palpable in the air. His hands clenched into fists at his sides and his shoulders went rigid with tension. "Oh, yes! Master Snape and his  _ rules _ ! All you do is preach about restraint, about what we can and can't do, and what we can and can't have!" Potter shouted. "I didn't ask for this, but I have it anyway."

He held up a single hand and cool, blue light flared to life around his fingers. It danced across his palm. Tendrils of it swam through his fingers, jumped like dolphins around his knuckles, and circled around his wrist. He clenched his fist and the light was crushed, ground into dust. It was a silly waste of power, a showy trick. Severus crossed his arms and glared, but Potter was determined to make his point.

"And since I have this power," he said, "I want to  _ do  _ things with it. Things that make a difference. I'm not trying to hurt anyone. I'm not trying to seize power or control people. I'm trying to make the world better!"

Severus' face became stone. "At the cost of your soul?" he asked. "Because this is wrong, Harry. Doing whatever you like because you are powerful makes you as much a tyrant as Draco Malfoy."

Potter threw his arms wide and screamed, "Draco Malfoy doesn't play by your rules! Only you believe these things you teach! Only  _ you _ follow these rules! You have no pleasures, Master, we all know that. You indulge in nothing and expect everyone in the world to do the same."

Severus glared daggers at him. "Watch what you say, boy."

"Or what?" Potter said and gave a sad little laugh. "Master Snape," he began again more softly, "you've taught all of us never to take too much or go beyond the limits you've set. It's stifling."

"It must be taught." Severus tried. "Someone like you with no rules? No understanding of right and wrong?"

"And yet Hermione nearly burned the world to the ground anyway," said Potter. "And you don't like to hear it, but you're what drove her to it. You held her back so much, told her to be ordinary when she was extraordinary. She left to take all the things she knew she could have, but that you told her she couldn't."

"Hermione never understood what I tried to teach her," Severus said. "I had hoped you would prove wiser."

"Sometimes, being around you? Trying so damn hard to please you?" Potter shook his head slowly. "I can understand why Hermione did it. I can't even blame her."

"You don't mean that," Severus said quickly.

Potter shrugged. "Perhaps I don't. I don't know."

Severus took a deep breath. He had to make Potter understand. "Listen to me. There is no reason for this Wilderness, Potter. We can just defeat Draco Malfoy. Weaken his army. Drive him back to where he came from. Why imprison him when we can end his reign forever?"

Potter looked away. He didn't seem to have an answer he was willing to tell Severus. After a moment where all his old nervous habits resurfaced worse than ever, from rubbing his hands together to staring at his feet, Potter finally answered. "It's bigger than Draco Malfoy," he said. "This is about…making the world safe long after he's gone. The Wilderness is…it's the answer to so many of our problems."

Severus had no idea what that meant or what to do about it. When he taught Potter about the doors, he hadn't imagined that the boy would take the theory to this extreme. Manasseh had been one thing, but this Wilderness sounded much worse. He had never intended for Potter to go finding doors to places that only appeared to exist in his mind. Of course, when did Potter ever do what he was supposed to?

"You don't really know what this Wilderness is, do you? And you've let it inside your mind?"

When Potter averted his eyes, Severus caught his shoulders and squeezed, forcing him to look at him. "You may be strong, but you're not who you were before Manasseh. Then, no one could have touched you. Now, you're a shell of yourself. Malfoy has you beaten because Malfoy isn't holding two prisons in his mind! You're just a boy. You're just…you're just my…"

"Your  _ what _ , Master?" Potter asked, head tilted back to look at him with his eyes hard and knowing. And there it was again, that man's voice in this boy's body and Severus wanted to scream "No!"

How could he make the child return, banish this difficult, complicated, infuriating man before Potter became him forever?

"You're just too young," Severus finished. "You still have a lot to learn."

Potter smiled up at him. It was one of his sad, broken smiles, the kind he had probably been born with. "Yes, well, I'm not your student anymore," he said and lifted one of his small hands to cup Severus' cheek. It was warm and callused and Severus felt his eyelids flutter.

"And I'm no longer a boy. You are the greatest general in my army, my most trusted advisor. I value your opinion, but I am still your commander." His voice became granite. "You will follow my orders. I'm sorry, Master, but you know you can't stop me."

"I can try."

Potter smiled. "You can," he agreed. "But I wouldn't recommend it."

Severus felt helpless looking down at his arrogant student. His  _ commander _ . Potter trusted him, respected his opinion. Perhaps he could wear the stubborn boy down? For the time being, they were at another one of their infamous impasses. He would try another day.

He released Potter's shoulders and Potter let his hand slip from Severus' face slowly, almost reluctantly. Severus stepped away from Potter.

His eyes drifted to the map on the table. Draco Malfoy's forces were represented by a black blot the size of his hand situated just outside the Capitol, and another twice as large further south. There were artfully placed designs around the borders of the main force. They seemed to swirl and loop powerfully over the entire world, but always returned to Malfoy, free and deadly. Severus exhaled.

"Malfoy has dragons?"

Potter tilted his head. "Malfoy has dragons."

"Can he control them?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Wonderful."

Potter smiled his most arrogant smile, "I thought so, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Up next:
> 
> Draco Malfoy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for stopping by! I'll update once a week. If you liked this story, why not drop a kudos or comment?


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